Hearn reveals Bellew vs. Fury handshake deal for 2018

By Boxing News - 12/15/2017 - Comments

Image: Hearn reveals Bellew vs. Fury handshake deal for 2018

By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn says Tyson Fury and Tony Bellew have verbal deal for the 2 of them to face each other in 2018. According to Hearn, Fury and Bellew “shook on it” after they agreed to fight next year.

Fury still needs to meet with the British Boxing Board of Control in the next month to get his license to fight. If Fury gets his boxing license back, then he’ll be fighting Bellew likely in the summer of next year.

A handshake deal normally isn’t worth much in boxing, but Fury is the type that would honor an agreement of that type, especially if there’s lots of money to be made fighting Bellew. There aren’t a lot of options for fights in the UK for Fury to make unfortunately. Bellew, 34, might not be a legitimate heavyweight, and he might not even rate as a top cruiserweight, but he’s well known among the casual and hardcore boxing fans in the UK. That makes him a good opponent for Fury to face to get attention from the fans, and to make some money.

“He’s going to KO David Haye, and then he’s going to fight the Gypsy King. They’ve already shook on it. They already got a deal,” said Hearn to BehindTheGloves in remarking on Fury having verbally agreed to fight Tony Bellew in 2018.

The main negative about Fury agreeing to fight Bellew is that he might need to take the fight with him coming off of a loss to David Haye. Bellew faces Haye in a rematch on May 5 in the UK, and that’s a fight that the odds-makers expect Haye to win. I’m in agreement with that. I thought Bellew was losing to Haye up until the time the Hayemaker suffered an injury in the 6th round. The injury likely saved Bellew from a loss. That was Haye on his worst night. He did not look at all prepared for the Bellew fight. This time though, I suspect that Haye will be at his best, and I see him knocking Bellew out without any problems. Haye will be ready for the fight, and he now knows that Bellew will be retreating each time he comes forward to engage. Haye looked like he wasn’t expecting Bellew to run from him last March in their previous fight. Haye never did adjust to the movement that Bellew used in the fight. In the rematch, I expect to be fully ready for Bellew’s style of fighting if he chooses to dart away each time Haye comes forward. Even if Haye chooses to fight conservatively without pressing the issue, I think he’ll jab Bellew to pieces and win a fairly lopsided decision.

As long as Fury is good with fighting Bellew with him coming off of a loss to Haye, I see it as a good warm-up fight for the Gypsy King. Bellew wouldn’t beat any of the quality cruiserweights, which you can argue is the main reason he dashed from the division just when he was about to be ordered to fight Mairis Briedis. If Fury is on board with fighting Bellew coming off of a loss, it’s on him. I could think of other more credible opponents for Fury that would mean a lot more. Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce would be far better choices for Fury than facing Bellew. But they wouldn’t bring in as much money as Bellew, and they would bring in far more risk for Fury.

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